Easiest DPS class?

I want to relax.

The problem with asking which DPS class is easiest is that there's no real answer. Everyone will have different opinions, so I'd say the easiest DPS is always going to be the one you enjoy playing most

BRD - A big opener then Iron Jaws, Straight Shot and Heavy Shot the rest of way. No positional attacks because you are ranged.

All are easy once the muscle memory kicks in.

SMN as you really can just apply your DoTs then sit back and do nothing while the egi auto-attacks for you.
DRG as they only have two easy to remember combos that deal good damage so long as you remember to alternate every so often.

Summoner is very forgiving. High mobility. Uses a priority system instead of a set rotation. It's also an AOE god. Great for dungeons.

None of them. All the dps classes got significantly more complex rotations in HW. All of them require some sort of buff or dots you have to maintain to maximize dps. Even Summoner, if you really want to be on top of dps, you need to keep your dots up and take advantage of your self buffs and Garuda's contagion to max out. Not to mention shadow flare placement and maintenance. Something that I still see SMNs forget and that tanks can mess up for you.

If you don't care about being the best, then all of them are easy because there are plenty of people that don't learn the best rotations and just face roll. You can do all that and do dungeons, just don't expect to clear bleeding edge savage or extreme content with it.

The closest thing to an easy dps class prior to all this was Black Mage. The 2.x rotation was laughably simple.

Monk, because PUNCH. MOAR PUNCH. WHAT DO!? PUNCH.
Bad thing dead? NO!? PUNCH AGAIN!
(That's a joke, not what I actually think)

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Originally Posted by ChameleonMS

BRD - A big opener then Iron Jaws, Straight Shot and Heavy Shot the rest of way. No positional attacks because you are ranged.

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One thing to mention about BRD is you always have to watch both your skill bars for procs and boss' bar for debuffs. This is how I feel while I play BRD.

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you always have to watch both your skill bars for procs and boss' bar for debuffs.

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Just make "proc" hotbar and place it near (below or above, for example) the target bar.
Actually, place your buff bar somewhere close too. :)

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Originally Posted by ZhaneX

SMN as you really can just apply your DoTs then sit back and do nothing while the egi auto-attacks for you.
DRG as they only have two easy to remember combos that deal good damage so long as you remember to alternate every so often.

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Ehhh Dragoon is a bit more difficult than say Monk and a couple others, you need to remember to do HT/Phlem regularly and without interrupting your attacks, keep BoTD up, know when to and when not to use jump. If you make a mistake as Dragoon it is much less forgiving than Monk for instance, as monk you just... Keep punching up the combo anyways, Dragoon... Well you now gotta think is it worth starting your combo over to apply disembowl and CT, or do you continue with the FT then apply after and chain it with HT?

There's a lot that goes into maxing your DPS as a Dragoon.

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Originally Posted by ChameleonMS

BRD - A big opener then Iron Jaws, Straight Shot and Heavy Shot the rest of way. No positional attacks because you are ranged.

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If you don't have a WAR and if your healers don't run out of MP and your dps not out of TP. Otherwise you have to pay attention to that too and depending on the fight, BRD is not the easiest.

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Originally Posted by ZhaneX

SMN as you really can just apply your DoTs then sit back and do nothing while the egi auto-attacks for you.

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and thats exactly the reason why we have so many bad smns & schs out there... "let the pet do your job aye"... >__>

As a monk main, I find it pretty relaxing to play Black Mage. You are ranged, have an infinite resource that isn't TP, Can make use of sprint to get out of AoE's quicker, only 1 DoT to manage, easy rotation, easy buff management, easy procs, Not many instant Offensive GCD's to manage to keep DPS and your cast times usually line up with the GCD. (unlike bard who's cast times are faster than the GCD which can feel really clunky at times) The only problem with black mage, is if the boss you are fighting hates you and decides to put a circle of death under your feet every time you try to dps.

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Originally Posted by Neela

and thats exactly the reason why we have so many bad smns & schs out there... "let the pet do your job aye"... >__>

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Yeeeah I don't think it's a good idea to be in the mindset from the get go to not be manually using your pet. Caused me a lot of problems down the road when I hit 50 and started raiding down the road trying to learn.

This is a very simple answer. And it's every one of them.

Thing is, everyone has different playstyles, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Maybe you prefer to be ranged to have a better awareness of the arena. Maybe you struggle with maintaining several DoTs, procs, and timers.

So the answer is actually a question. Which DPS is easiest for you? Also, which do you enjoy playing the most? The one you enjoy the most is the one that you'll have the easiest time putting the extra effort to get better in. No one can tell you where you'll excel. Just have to try them out and find out which shtick is most compelling to you.

SMN is very easy, after really taking time to properly setup a go that on PS4 I can honestly say DRG is easier then MNK/NIN for me now

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Originally Posted by ZhaneX

SMN as you really can just apply your DoTs then sit back and do nothing while the egi auto-attacks for you.

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Except you also have to be able to deal with the timing of Ruin III, Deathflare, and Tri-disaster in the 15 seconds you have Dreadwyrm Trance and keeping Aetherflow/Aethertrail Attunement up. Plus, you usually have to at least tell Gaurda when to use Contagion. Then there's the fact SMN is usually the group's go to res'er.

My vote goes to BRD. Looking at the enemy's debuffs, our own procs, and the party's MP/TP isn't as hard as people as people make it out to be, especially with the right UI.

From hardest to easiest:

1 - Machinist: have never played this one, but the idea that min maxing this class is hard as **** seems to be pretty unanimous.

2 - BLM: not many buttons, but enochian is a complete nightmare to keep. Requires studying fights very carefully. Losing enochian is a harsh DPS loss. Most static class. Even when mastered, going blind into a fight can make you commit suicidal (eg. Seph EX). Doing flawless DPS with this thing on a fight that requires a lot of movement should net you an achievement. Extremely punishing.

3 - DRG: lots of buttons, BotD timer, random positionals, OGCDs that lock you. The class is extremely overwhelming at first, but it loses all its complexity once you become familiar with the rotation (unlike the BLM which is always more exposed to random mechanics ******* them).

4 - SMN: same issue with DRG. Lots of buttons at first, but once you muscle memory the priority system, the class is extremely mobile and no mechanics can really **** you up (other than festering an immune boss...but that's some nasty bad coincidence). Still, takes some time to learn, because of the awful amount of buttons that requires playing this class optimally and the added mana management difficulty this class has. You aren't a flawless SMN if you aren't using Ruin III outside your Dreadwyrm Trance when you have mana surplus.

5 - BRD: Arguably easy, but not as easy as most people think. The class doesn't follow a strict GCD order (except for the opener), it's a complete whack-a-mole OGCD fest, and it can be pretty frenetic at times, when multiple OGCDs come up at the same time and there's very little room to weave them all. Also, must keep track of DOTs, not refreshing them with Iron Jaws is a DPS loss (though not a harsh one).

6 - NIN: Can't say much about this one (level 0 rogue here), but I've heard it has a very flexible rotation, which is easy and forgiving too.

7 - MNK: It's an easy version of the 2.0 MNK. Not only losing GL3 is much harder now due to form shift, even if you lose it during a long downtime, stacking five chakras for a free 330 potency attack + starting with instant GL due to form shift makes this class much more forgiving than it was in 2.0. 7 GCDs, and a pattern that is extremely set in stone. Very easy to become familiar with, and very easy to do extremely well. Once mastered, there's hardly anything that can screw you up, class is mobile and very noob friendly. Missing positionals doesn't punish your DPS much, but landing them is easy enough anyway.

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Originally Posted by Mimilu

Except you also have to be able to deal with the timing of Ruin III, Deathflare, and Tri-disaster in the 15 seconds you have Dreadwyrm Trance and keeping Aetherflow/Aethertrail Attunement up. Plus, you usually have to at least tell Gaurda when to use Contagion. Then there's the fact SMN is usually the group's go to res'er.

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+Shadowflare, Miasra and the proper use of Virus...

But just let Ruda do her thing than everything is gonna be alright, aye :o

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Originally Posted by Garotte14

(snip)
No one can tell you where you'll excel. Just have to try them out and find out which shtick is most compelling to you.

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Aye, best bet is to try the different cls in palace of the dead... you'll get access to all job-skills pretty fast, really good way to try things out. =)

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Originally Posted by Garotte14

This is a very simple answer. And it's every one of them.

Thing is, everyone has different playstyles, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Maybe you prefer to be ranged to have a better awareness of the arena. Maybe you struggle with maintaining several DoTs, procs, and timers.

So the answer is actually a question. Which DPS is easiest for you? Also, which do you enjoy playing the most? The one you enjoy the most is the one that you'll have the easiest time putting the extra effort to get better in. No one can tell you where you'll excel. Just have to try them out and find out which shtick is most compelling to you.

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Unless you're a Scholar in dungeons, the you slap on cleric stance and occasionally hit rouse, maybe an adlo here or there.


And personally I'd say ninja or bard, the hardest thing about ninja, honestly, is seeing that 15s timer left on huton and reminding yourself that that's enough time for 37 rotations, 8 short novels, a raid, the birth of your first son, and the second coming before you have to refresh it

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Originally Posted by Neela

and thats exactly the reason why we have so many bad smns & schs out there... "let the pet do your job aye"... >__>

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This,

but then again, OP is looking to relax so it should be ok

I suggest looking at openers and basic dps rotation of each job then chose :)
Try them in PoTD.

Every DPS class is easy if you intend to be mediocre forever...

No class is easy if you want to play to the maximum potential.

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Originally Posted by Bloopan

This,

but then again, OP is looking to relax so it should be ok

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if we talk like that... OP should go for Brd with the "all-in-one-one-button-macro"... good old times :3

Hey i though scholar was a dps job, no?
You cannot truly tell unless you try them all out yourself, as opinions will all be different.
Can always do Palace of the Dead, this would give you ideas as how some jobs function without having them fully levelled outside of the dungeon

Played BLM, SMN, and NIN at 60, in order of easiest to hardest, I would say

BLM --> SMN --> NIN.

BLM is very easy because it's the same rotation basically every time. You can do very high damage with just a few buttons.
SMN is very easy until 60 when it comes a little more difficult because managing stacks to do Dreadwyrm trance. Then it became a little bit harder.
NIN is the hardest for me, but the most fun, because I need to watch a lot of things. There are many Abilities you can use in between Weaponskills and watching the cooldowns on all of them is important.
When is my Jugulate available? How about Mug?
When should I use my trick attack? How much longer before I can use it?
When is Dream within a Dream available? How about Duality? I need to Refresh Huton, should I use Duality with Armor Crush or save it and use it with Aeolian Edge in the next rotation?
Ninjutsu is available, should I use Raiton or Katon here? Or should I use Huton because I won't be able to make use Armor crush in time to refresh it.

And you have to think about positioning too. If you can't get behind the mob, should you still use Aeolian Edge? Or use Armor Crush? Is there enough leeway to get to the flank?

Being sure to use ninjutsu, jugulate, mug, dream within a dream everytime they are available and constantly keeping huton up and using trick attack as much as possible is far more challenging than BLM for me.
Playing BLM I felt like "Find a safe spot to stand. Ley Lines, Enochain, Fires and Blizzards as long as possible. Repeat".

The problem about these threads is that people always judge what's harder with the job they feel more passionate about. "This is hard because I love it and thus I try to min max it and wow, so many buttons!" as opposed to "I don't like this job but I can pull 1800 DPS in a dummy in i250 gear it doesn't seem too bad (it is)". Most people do not invest an equal amount of time on all DPS classes and judge accordingly later. I know I did.

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Originally Posted by LilLemay

Unless you're a Scholar in dungeons, the you slap on cleric stance and occasionally hit rouse, maybe an adlo here or there.


And personally I'd say ninja or bard, the hardest thing about ninja, honestly, is seeing that 15s timer left on huton and reminding yourself that that's enough time for 37 rotations, 8 short novels, a raid, the birth of your first son, and the second coming before you have to refresh it

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I had a ton of trouble getting ninja down and not as much trouble getting summoner down. I was too busy trying to keep my slash damage debuff up, my dots up, keeping an eye on trick attack's cooldown and keeping futon up to notice when the mudra's were off cooldowns. But I'm not 60 yet, should be 60 once I get home and do my roulettes.

Also that darn weapon poison always disappears when I enter dungeons and I forget to apply it for the first half of the dungeon.

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Originally Posted by Gallus

The problem about these threads is that people always judge what's harder with the job they feel more passionate about. "This is hard because I love it and thus I try to min max it and wow, so many buttons!" as opposed to "I don't like this job but I can pull 1800 DPS in a dummy in i250 gear it doesn't seem too bad (it is)". Most people do not invest an equal amount of time on all DPS classes and judge accordingly later. I know I did.

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Wait, what kind of DPs should you be pulling in i250 gear then?

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Originally Posted by kaptainpancake69

I want to relax.

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Dragoon! Full-Thrust -> Full-Thrust -> Full-Thrust -> Repeat until dead ; )

If you want to play a DD-class right, there is no time to relax.

And that's why I sit in roulette's or raids with smn's that deal 300 dmg because people tell them it's easy... just apply your dots and go afk... I WISH that's all I would have to do everyday. Now I am not saying it's hard to play after you got the rotations down, however if you're new to the job then it's not as easy as some people might think, and just applying dots and going afk is not how you play the class.

To be fair, OP doesn't sound like a person who is going to learn to play a class optimally (because currently there is no class that is easy at that level). If you want to relax as much as possible WHILE PLAYING AT A GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE LEVEL I recommend BLM. Once you learn the encounter it is pretty easy and there are few times you are going to ask yourself "what should I do next...". However, this is only true with knowledge of the encounter, otherwise it is extremely difficult to dish out good damage.

If you just want to do Dungeons and don't get vote kicked while AFKing though, I recommend Summoner...

I agree mostly with Gallus' list on page 2.
If you want to relax, picking a class that is hard to mess up and fairly forgiving if you do mess up.
NIN and BRD are pretty far up there with a super easy/no proper rotation at all. If one of the extra moves becomes available, hit it. Done. If you drop your DoTs and have to spend 2 instead of 1 GCD to refresh them on BRD, yeah, it's annoying, but the dmg loss is minimal. If you drop your self-buff on NIN, and have just used the Mudras for something else, getting a bit slower for like 15 seconds is a bit annoying, but your DMG output won't go down by heaps and bounds.

On the other hand, you have classes like DRG and BLM that operate on extremely tight timers, and if they get messed up even a bit, they drop your DMG by a lot.

Of course, like others have said, each class is hard if you are aiming for the optimum, but if you are satisfied with being "decent" and don't want to put in too much work, those low-risk jobs are the best choice.

There is no easiest dps class. Some people say the monk is easy, some people say blm is easy and so on. It all depends on your own way to play, so try the classes and find your own easy class.

MNK is "easy" to me because it's literally the only class that clicks with me, bit of a former fighting game enthusiast and it feels like combos more than rotation and it flows so well. Still not a supreme master at it, but half the battle is knowing every fight in the game and how to adjust accordingly.

Learning game mechanics above all else is the real deal right there.

Depends on your opinion of relaxing. I found BRD extremely difficult due to the number of abilities included in any rotation, buffs and dots, etc, on top of movement and casting, but BLM is easy as all the work is just juggling Enochian, learning fight phases, and maybe teleporting out of something once in awhile.

Dragoon is the easiest. The rotation is a super simple routine and never changes. It gets even simpler at 60. Animation Locks are a hazard to yourself though.

The monk is one of the easiest class to play.

Simple rotation, few skills (great with a controller), once you know how to play him, it's juste muscle memory.

Very relaxing, great dps even if you don't master it.

Other dps you have to pay attention at :
Black mage : fucking enochian.
Summoner : Deadwyrm trance.
Bard : not let the dot disappear.
Machinist : Proc + tunnel vision.
Ninja : Futon, dot, mudras
Dragoon : dragon blood, and proc fourth finisher

That's why monk is more relaxing, you don't really need to pay attention on something to make a good dps.

BRD for me is the easiest to play casually
- only have 2 dots and both of them can be reapply together with just 1 skill
- only have 2 skill proc, straight shot proc from your heavy shot (20% chance) and bloodletter proc from your dots (50% chance and even that must be crit)
- no combo rotation, no such thing as true-->vorpal-->heavy thrust combo.
- only have 2 "must press" heavy hitter skill, empyreal arrow and sidewinder (the later have 60s CD so you can just fire and forget until next 2 mob unless its a boss fight)
- its range class, not much movement needed compare to melee
- you can rarely or even not use song skill at all, in DF most people dont care anyway, it help but most in people in DF will just "meh, oh well..."

The downside of BRD?
-happy with your run and gun playstyle? Get ready for 180 degree game changer at level 52. either you happy or cry in the corner and change class in the next day.
-get used with the "hissssss" sound starting level 52 =P